Alexander helps Seahawks earn No. 3 seed

The Seattle Seahawks were seeking to regain some fire heading into the playoffs. Mere plumes of smoke was all that was required to beat the wretched Ravens.

Matt Hasselbeck shook off two interceptions to throw two touchdown passes and Shaun Alexander had his biggest rushing day since Week 4 as the Seattle Seahawks clinched the No. 3 seed in the NFC with a methodical, 27-6 victory over Baltimore Sunday.

Hasselbeck's scores gave him a career-high 27 TD throws this season. One went to Alexander, on a screen pass of 14 yards. That gave Seattle (10-5) a 21-0 lead late in the first half.

Alexander turned a season of being booed at home into holiday cheers by gaining 73 yards on 13 carries. That was after the 2005 league MVP sat on the bench in a hooded parka during Seattle's first two drives, watching backup Maurice Morris run the plays.

Alexander averaged 42 yards a game in his previous eight games before this romp against the depleted Ravens' defense. Baltimore was missing nine-time Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis, Pro Bowl defensive end Trevor Pryce and both starting cornerbacks.

The Ravens (4-11), with 2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith completing 16 of 33 passes in his first NFL start, extended their franchise-record losing streak to nine games. It took Smith's 79-yard TD pass to Derrick Mason with 4:41 left for Baltimore to avoid its first shutout since Sept. 15, 2002.

Smith, in because Steve McNair is on injured reserve and Kyle Boller has a concussion, was starting for the first time since he was at Ohio State and lost last January's national championship game to Florida in a rout.

This one wasn't much better.

He had to essentially carry a sickly offense after leading rusher Willis McGahee left in the first quarter with bruised ribs. Using his running ability on rollouts and bootlegs, Smith got Baltimore into Seattle territory for the only time in its first eight drives by completing five consecutive passes late in the opening half.

Then Patrick Kerney knocked the ball out of his hand and Julian Peterson recovered.

The Ravens lost another fumble to give them 25, most in the NFL this season.

Smith's best pass was a javelin-like throw that soared 60 yards from his own end zone in the second quarter. The pass would have been a 98-yard touchdown to tie the game had Brian Russell not poked the ball away from Mark Clayton's hands at the Seattle 45.

But, par for this lost Ravens season, he did.

Hasselbeck was 14-for-21 in the first half, with touchdown passes of 21 yards to Nate Burleson and 14 yards to Alexander. Burleson's score came after Hasselbeck audibled away from what apparently was going to be a run by Alexander on third-and-2 and found Burleson running past Willie Gaston.

Gaston was starting at cornerback because last week Samari Rolle became the ninth Raven to go on injured reserve.

Alexander's score came when he caught a screen pass in the crook of his right arm, opposite the cast on his broken left wrist he has been wearing since Week 2.

Seattle's other touchdown came on linebacker Leroy Hill's 20-yard TD return of Mike Anderson's fumble. Anderson, the former lead runner for Denver subbing for McGahee, lost the ball when Darryl Tapp hit him within a pile at the end of a 3-yard run.

Bobby Engram had five catches for 69 yards for Seattle to break Darrell Jackson's team record for receptions from the 2004 season. Engram has 90.